Machine for cleaning and treating streets



J. S. PORTER.

MACHINE FOR CLEANING AND TREATING STREETS.

APPLICATION FILED MAYLOJQW.

"1,390,639. PatentedSept. 13, 1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

J. S. PORTER.

MACHINE FOR CLEANING AND TREATING STREETS.

APPLICATION men MAYIO, 1919.

1,390,639. I PatentedSept. 13,1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- .2 i

; 15 4f 45 48 45 v w 1 m PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES S. TORTER, 0F BUFFALO, NEW YORK.

MAGHIN FOR CLEANING AND TREATING STREETS.

Specification of LettersP atent. Patent d S t. 13 1921 Application medley 10, 1919. Serial No. 296,268.

To all whom it may concern: 1

Be it known that 1, JAMES S. PORTER, a citizen of the United States, residing in Buffalo, in the county of Erie and Stateof New York, have inventednew and useful Improvements in Machines for Cleaning and Treating Streets, of which the following 1s a specification.

This invention relates to a machine for removing ice and snow from a street or highway by means of blazing vapor ets, or flames which serve not only to melt the objectionable frozen matter, but also toimpel the entire resulting residue to one side of the machine and into the gutter.

The object of the invention is to provide a light, speedy. and convenient machine of this character which is equippedwith a flexibly adjustable, thoroughly carburizing and economical heating system and which Wlll ermit of the complete removal of the rozen matter on the roadway, when the snow happens to be. deep and flufly, and also when it happens to be compact and icy.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a top plan view of a machine for cleaning and treating streets incorporating my invention. Fi 2 is a. verticalsection of the preferred orm of carburetor or vaporizer. Fig. 3 is a fragmentary, hor1- zontal section, on an enlarged scale, through one of the rotaryjoints of the piping. F1 43 is a perspective view of the means for a 'usting the position of the flame nozzles. ig. 5 is a fragmentarylongitudinal section taken on line 5 -5, Fig. 1.

Similar characters of reference referto like parts throughout the several views.

Illustrating the general form of the machine in a conventional manner, 10 represents a main truck-frame or chassis suitably mounted at its opposite ends on rear driving wheels 11 and front or steering wheels, 12. The frame may, however, be mounted on sleigh runners or by other suitable antifriction supporting members. .The driving wheels receive their power through a propellershaft 13, universal joint 14 andgear transmission 15 from a conventional, liquid f el mot r 16, he transmission gears being shifted by a suitable, upwardly extending gear shift lever 17 The steering wheels 12 are pivotally mounted at opposite ends of thefront axle 18 and are arranged to be manipulated, for steeringthe machine, by a steering wheel 19 through the medium of bell cranks 20, steering links 21, 22 and worm gearing 23 in the usual and customary manner. g The appearance, arrangement and constructional details of this machine may be varied considerably without departing from the spirit of the invention, but the general arrangement shown is preferred and is constructed as follows: i

24 represents a suitable air compressor pump preferably driven from a take-off shaft 25, with which the transmission of a commercial truck is usually equlpped or is adapted to be equipped for cable drum hoisting and other similar urposes, the power of said shaft 25 being derived directly from the counter-shaft or jack shaft of thetransmission, which latter is alwaysin meshand is entirely independent of the regular transmission clutch. The compressed air is discharged from the air pump24 through a discharge pipe 26, the air, thendividing into two branches, part going through an adjustable air valve 27 and part going through an adjustable carburetervalve 28 into a vaporizing carbureter 29. v This carbureter may be constructed in a variety, of ways but it is preferable to employ one similar to that shown in Letters atent No. 563,799 granted to myself July power 14, 1896, in conjunction with the present maover the surface of the liquid fuel in the lowermost compartment, the air being caused to follow a spiral path by reason of a vertical spiral baflleplate 35 arranged within this compartment. The passage of the air is partially interrupted here and there by vertical, absorbent-cloth curtains (not shown here) arranged transversely of the air and vapor pathway and dipping into the liquid fuel and kept moistened thereby The by reason of its capillary action.

mixture of air and vapor passes from the lowermost compartment up through the lowermost, vertical duct 33, into the next upper compartment and then follows the spiral pathway. in said compartment and passes up through the next vertical duct 33 into the nextnpper compartment and so on until the carbureted mixture finallyv reaches the storage compartment 30. After the air has been completely saturated with the combustiblefluid the resultant vapor passes from the storage compartment 30 through'a vapor I pipe 36, anda vapor adjustingvalve 37 and each bearing head 41 transversely of the machine, and arranged to turn therein on its own axis,jis a rocking or rotary pipe 42, provided at each end with external screw threads .48, which terminate at their inner ends in shoulders 44, said shoulders being adjacent to the outer faces of the companion bearing head 41. Meshing with the screw threads 43 oneach rocking pipe are two retaining nuts 45, 45, which are set up tightly against the said rocking pipe shoulders 44 so as to bear against the outer faces of the bearing head and thereby prevent longitudinal movementof the rocking pipe relatively to its companion bearing head.

The passage-of the vapor from each vapor supporting arm or supplypipe 40 into its companion rocking pipe 42, as shown in Fig. 3, and irrespective of the relative positionof the parts, is readily accomplished, by providing thebearing'head 41 with an internal, central, annular groove or enlarge ment 46 which permits the. vapor to flow from the supporting pipe 40 through .a

number of holes 47, in the central part of the rocking pipe and into the interior of the latter. Connectedrigidly to opposite ends of each rocking pipe 42 are vapor delivery nozzles 48, which are constructed to swing with the rocking pipes 42 in a vertical, longitudinal plane at right angles to the axis of said rocking pipes.

At its front end each vapor delivery nozzle 48 communicates with the side of .a flame nozzle 49 which is not only inclined downwardly but also laterally, as shown in Figs. 1 and 5. The sideward sweep of the gasflame emanating from the front end of each of said flame nozzles causes a large area to be swept by the flame as the machine moves along the street. The vapor nozzles 48 rest upon a supporting bar 50 which is arranged transversely of the machine and connected by means of arms 51 with a. transversely arranged rock shaft 52, suitably j ournaled in hearings on the frame. An arm 53 is secured to one end of said rock shaft and is actuated, through the medium of an intermediate rod 54, by a quadrant lever 55 of the usual type which may be held in any desired position and is arranged conveniently to one hand of the driver of the machine as shown in Fig. 1. Thus, by moving this quadrant lever 55 one way or the other, all of the flame nozzles are caused to be either simultaneously depressed or raised, as may be necessary to suit the particular work in hand. 1

Leading from the adjustable air valve 527, the compressed air branches oil into air conduits 56, arranged loi'igitndinally at each forward side of the machine and co1nn1unieating at their forward ends with an air manifold or header pipe 57, arranged transversely at the forward part of the machine. This air header pipe is provided uniformly along its length with a number of T pipe connections 58, which are connected at their front ends 59 by flexible pipes or hose sections 60 with the rear ends of the flame nozzles 49, as shown in Figs. 1 and 5, for supplying air thereto. The air is intimately mixed in the flame nozzle with the saturated vapor which comes from. the vapor nozzle 48, so that a highly combustible and a very eflicient mixture is caused to be blown out of the front end of the flame nozzle 49, which mixture, upon being ignited, has not only a tremendous heating effect, but a very considerable kinetic velocity as well, so that the snow and ice is caused first to be melted with great rapidity and then blown laterally toward one side of the machine. Inasmuch as each one of the flame nozzles =19 is inclined laterally, it is apparent that any debris in front of the machine will be acted upon progressively by one after another of the jets of flame, so that the entire frozen matter in front of themachine will first be entirely melted and then all the water and debris shot clear into the gutter and completely out of the path of the machine, it being apparent that the water floats or buoys up and also acts as a lubricant for the debris and that the whole mass, for this reason, is completely and sanitarily washed away, no decayable debris being forced .down into the small depressions of the pavement, which benefit is more particularly apparent where a brick or cobblestone street is being cleaned.

It is also evident that the machine is applicable, in the summer tire, to heating the surface of an asphalt, creosote'componnd or macadam roadbed or highway, or one which has been coated with any of these materials, preparatory to rolling the same down smooth with a road roller, the speed of the machine when thus used for heat treating the roadway, and the-angularity of the flame nozzles being properly adjusted for this particular purpose, the s eed, in such case for instance, being consi erabl slower, so as to soften the material a su cient depth.

On the whole, it will be obvious that the machine executes its work expeditiously and thoroughly, it has a wide latitude of usefulness and it has very convenient adjustments which permit of obtaining the maximum efliciency under all conditions. Should i the snow be thin, the nozzles are raised by whole machine lessened. The machine is inexpensive to operate by reason of the thorough carburation of the volatile oil, as no solid unvolatilized particles of oil can possibly be carried along by the air current and every particle of snow and ice is entirely removed so that the usual skidding of pleasure cars and trucks in winter time is entirely eliminated.

I claim as my invention:

In a machine of the character described, the combination of a plurality of vertically movable flame delivery nozzles, a vapor supply pipe, a flexible connection between said supply pipe and delivery nozzles, and means for raising and lowering said delivery nozzles comprising a transverse rod on which said nozzles are supported, rock arms carrying said rod, a rock shaft to which said arms are secured, an intermediate arm connected with said shaft, and an operating lever connected with said intermediate arm.

JAMES S. PORTER. 

